Did Morgan Spurlock Damage the McDonald’s brand?

I remember with great joy and glee when I would request going to McDonald’s during my early childhood and I clearly remember it meant anything – [tag]Arby’s[/tag], [tag]Burger King[/tag], [tag]KFC[/tag] or [tag]Wendy’s[/tag] – just fast food please. I also think I remember this word usage in college, but it doesn’t seem to be the case today in casual conversation. This may not even be a reasonable observation by the extremely focused group of folks I interact with, which are effectively 30+ yrs old for the most part.

So the question I have is – Has the McDonald’s brand been permanently damaged for the 30 somethings due to [tag]Morgan Spurlock[/tag]? This question came about due to another post I made on Culinary Gizmodo:

So we all like McDonald’s, most will probably not admit it and seldom not feel guilty after a visit – but we DO like McDonald’s. All of us have new way of referring to a quick stop as Micky D’s. Ever since the movie Super Size Me from Morgan Spurlock we refer to McDonald’s with euphemisms: “grabbing something quick” or “getting a burger”

I’m not saying we never admit we eat at McDonald’s, but if we do the admission somehow includes a salad and Dasani. I think many of use say fast food instead of McDonald’s as well.  So my hypothesis is that at some point since [tag]Super Size Me[/tag] in 2004, Morgan’s work could quite possibly have demoted the McDonald’s brand to a less than synonym status of the like of Coke or Kleenex.

The other option is that Spurlock didn’t erode the brand and my cohort group just isn’t a naturally strong demographic. Thoughts?

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